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Friday, August 17, 2007

The Case for the New England New State Movement

I know that many readers of this blog find my continued support for New England self government strange, parochial.

Yes, my support is partly emotional. A form of local patriotism. But it is also practical.

After the loss of the self-government referendum in 1967 I, like many others, moved away from the new state cause. It had ceased to be relevant. But then, unlike most others, I came back. A key reason was that my life experience, and especially my experience as a policy adviser, suddenly convinced me that the arguments I had put forward so emotionally were in fact right.

While the arguments that I now mount in favour of renewed separatist agitation have similarities to those of the past, they are put solidly in a frame set by the workings of the current Governmental system. This, I argue, suffers from fundamental systemic weaknesses that discriminate against an area such as New England.

I find it hard to get this message across. I end up fighting on points of detail on one side, against broad general arguments on the other. So I need to go a different route.

Given that my arguments in favour of New England self government, or at least of a renewal of separatist agitation, are based on practical experience, I thought that what I might do is use actual examples to make my case.

The examples that I plan to cite are not abstract cases. They are specific examples of systemic failure. Each example may be open to challenge. But if I provide dozens, even hundreds, of examples, then I think that I can make the aggregate position clear.

I have so far put up just two examples on the New England Australia blog. I will add more in coming months. You can find the introductory post here.

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Welcome to the sometimes confused meanderings of a busy personal and professional life.

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